Fisheries Improved for Sustainable Harvests The FISH Project Story

1
Fisheries Improved for Sustainable Harvests/The
FISH Project Story
Rene Acosta/USAID-Philippines
2
Fish catch is DECLINING !Fish stocks are
DWINDLING !
Ecosystem degradation
Illegal fishing
Excessive fishing pressure
Destructive fishing
3
Catch rates of commercial ring netters in decline
Catch per unit effort (mt/hp/yr) of the
commercial small pelagic fisheries from 1948 to
2001 (Campos, 2004 BINU Project)
4
Catch rates of municipal fishers in decline
Estimated annual average catch per municipal
fisher from 1987 to 1996
The municipal production data are from BFAR
(1997). The data on the increase in population of
municipal fishers are adapted using data from
BFAR (1993) and Bernascek (1994).
5
Demersal stock density in decline
Compilation of demersal stock density estimates
based on various trawl surveys in the Philippines
from 1948 to 1995 (Barut et al., 2004 ADB-RETA
Project)
6
Too much fishing is killing the fishing
7
(No Transcript)
8
4 things to remember about FISH

• Establishing fisheries management systems in the
  4 selected focal areas
• Effecting change in exploitation patterns
• Achieving biophysical results as measured by 10
  increase in fish stocks within life of the
  project
• Laying the groundwork for widespread application
  of EBFM

9
1. Establishing fisheries management systems in
the 4 ecologically important sites

• Calamianes Islands, Northern Palawan
• Danajon Bank, Bohol
• Surigao del Sur, Pacific Seaboard
• Tawi-Tawi, Sulu Archipelago

10
Calamianes Group of Islands, Northern Palawan

• Comprise 160 islands with biodiverse-rich
  ecosystems
• Magnet for fishing fleets - 45 of fish landed
  in Manila comes from Palawan/ Calamianes.
• Supports a thriving/highly profitable live fish
  trade.
• Incredibly beautiful natural seascapes and
  landscapes attractive to tourism.
• Highly productive fishing grounds.
• Tagbanuas indigenous peoples that have gained
  legal recognition for their ancestral lands and
  waters.
• Nearshore fisheries are primarily reef and
  mangrove dependent
• Offshore fisheries are small pelagic, including
  squid and octopus that seasonally migrate with
  the ocean currents of the South China Sea.

11
Danajon Bank, Central Philippines

• A double barrier reef, one of only three such
  sites in the Indo-Pacific region.
• Covered by 17 municipalities, 4 provinces and 2
  regions.
• Plays a major role in the fishing industry of the
  province - 54 of the fishers in the province
  live in the 9 coastal municipalities bounding
  Danajon.
• Has an aggregate coastline of 699 km including 40
  islands, with approximately 270 sq km of reefs
• Historically the most habitat-rich fisheries
  ecosystem in Central Visayas.
• A most important source of marine biodiversity
  and a large breeding area for many fish,
  shellfish and invertebrate species.
• Extensive but very degraded coral reefs
• Relatively healthy mangroves and seagrass beds

12
Lanuza Bay, Pacific Seaboard Mindanao

• One of the richest fishing grounds in the region.
  Tuna catch ranks as the leading fishery product
  annual harvest of 4000 metric tons.
• Northeast tradewinds prevail year-round providing
  natural closed season for fishing.
• Not yet heavily overfished but being threatened
  by extractive activities both in upland and
  lowland areas.
• Covers 7 municipalities and a total coastline of
  120 kms and 127,325 ha of municipal waters.
• Provide a good opportunity to implement a
  bay-wide fisheries management program that builds
  on existing multi-LGU institutional arrangements.
• Large tracts of mangroves in Cantilan and
  Carrascal. Total estimated area for mangroves
  stand at 1,945 hectares.
• Massive areas of seagrass beds.

13
Tawi-Tawi, Sulu Archipelago Mindanao

• The southernmost province of the Philippines,
  bordering on Sabah, East Malaysia. Part of ARMM.
• 10 main islands and more than 300 islets.
• Capture fisheries supported by a network of
  extensive coral reefs, seagrass beds and mangrove
  forests.
• Rich marine biodiversity supported by the Sulu
  and Sulawesi seas.
• Very rich nearshore and offshore fishing grounds,
  as well as home to the Turtle Islands Wildlife
  Sanctuary (242,649 ha).
• Municipal waters are extensive more than 52,000
  sq km composite shoreline covers 821 kms.
• Province ranks first in the country in seaweed
  production.
• Several ethnic groups including the Sama, Tausug
  and Badjaos.

14
Calamianes MPA Network
Sagrada-Bogtong MR (Busuanga))
Concepcion Marine Reserve
Balisungan Marine Park
Siete Pecados Marine Park
Malbato-Dianglet Marine Reserve
Quaming Marine Sanctuary
Looc Marine Reserve
Cawa-cawa Marine Sanctuary
Bugur Marine Sanctuary (Culion)
Density (ind./100m3) distribution of fish larvae
in Coron Bay in April 2004.
15
Larval Density Calamianes
Map showing the density (ind./100m3) distribution
of fish larvae in Coron Bay in April 2004.
16
Philippine shelf areas

• Calamianes Islands, Northern Palawan
• Danajon Bank, Bohol
• Surigao del Sur, Pacific Seaboard
• Tawi-Tawi, Sulu Archipelago

17
4 things to remember about FISH

• Establishing fisheries management systems in the
  4 selected focal areas
• Effecting change in exploitation patterns
• Achieving biophysical results as measured by 10
  increase in fish stocks within life of the
  project
• Laying the groundwork for widespread application
  of EBFM

18
2. Effecting change in exploitation patterns
Milestones of management regimes
19
Lessons learned from past projects

• For social change to happen
• There must be policy/institutional
  conduciveness.
• There must be a generalized belief regarding the
  true conditions of our environment (The need for
  a social movement).
• For environmental degradation/fisheries decline
  to be arrested if not reversed, a
  transformation in the mindsets and attitudes of
  people is called for.
• No amount of policies and laws will reverse
  environmental/fisheries decline without a change
  in peoples individual and collective mindsets/
  consciousness.
• Catalysts/leaders are needed to trigger such
  transformation and change.

20
We also learned that

• People need to be given information, but also the
  motivation and skills to do the desired
  behavioral change.
• IEC and capacity-building must enable people not
  only to know, but also to want, and do the
  desired change.

21
Approaches

• Combination of advocacy, social marketing,
  social mobilization/participation and
  showcasing strategies
• Promotes a common vision and a shared belief
  system (importance of theplanning process)
• Employs participatory decision-making processes
  and experiential learning methods
• Anchored on consensus-building, dialogues and
  negotiations
• Innovative approaches resulting in increased
  public and local government engagement
• Creation of a critical mass

22
FISH Project Operational Framework

• Growth mechanism
• MPA and network
• Environment friendly enterprise
• Species-specific management
• Closed areas

• Control mechanism
• Gear restriction and size limit
• Registration and licensing
• Closed seasons
• Zoning of fishing areas
• Law enforcement
• Policy development

• Maintenance mechanism
• Management planning
• Capacity-building and institutional development
• Inter-LGU management arrangements
• Constituency building
• Private-public sector partnership

23
Some suggested control mechanisms
Access
Fisher registration
Boat registration
Fish operation licensing
Spatio-temporal
Close season to allow spawning
Fish sanctuary
Zoning
Input controls
Technological
Fishing gear modification
Ban on destructive gears
Mesh size limit
Increase in harvestable fish stock
Size
Minimum size limit
Maximum size limit
Stage at maturity
Ban on catching gravid fish and invertebrates
Ban on selling gravid fish and invertebrates
Output controls
Catch/harvest
Ban on catching and selling fish on close season
Total allowable catch
24
Closed season for rabbitfish

• Close season during spawning season
• 4th 5th and 6th day after the new moon
• monthly for the entire year or for a few months
  only
• Banning of fine meshed gears catching danggit
• Banning of selling of danggit during close season

Danajon Bank and Lanuza Bay
25
Size limit for Grouper
Length frequency distribution of Plectropomus
leopardus in LRFFI, Calamianes in 1998 (Mamauag
et al. 2002)
Lm
500g - 1,000g 2 - 4 years old
Immature
Super spawners
26
Other fisheries management interventions being
explored

• Self-imposed close season on small pelagics by
  ring netters in Camotes Sea
• Ban or limit use of fine meshed-nets in Danajon
  Bank
• Seagrass sanctuary in Danajon Bank
• Close season for danggit in Coron Bay
• Close season for beach seine in Lanuza Bay
• Total ban on use of double and triple nets in
  Lanuza Bay
• Marine sanctuary for sea urchins, sea cucumber
  and abalone in Tawi-Tawi
• Gear swapping for dynamite fishers in Tawi-Tawi

27
Linking socio-religious practices with marine
conservation and protection
28
Perceptions and feedbacks/PHE

• Communities agreed with opinion statements about
  linked population-environment problems
• Overpopulation is one of the causes of declining
  fish catch (94 in 2005 to 98.3 in 2006)
• This village may soon face a crisis because there
  are too many people and not enough fish to go
  around ( 95.7 in 2005 to 98.3 in 2006)
• Just around the corner we can get family
  planning products that are low-cost
• Enough food available for the family now
• Fewer malnourished children in our barangay

29
4 things to remember about FISH

• Establishing fisheries management systems in the
  4 selected focal areas
• Effecting change in exploitation patterns
• Achieving biophysical results as measured by 10
  increase in fish stocks within life of the
  project
• Laying the groundwork for widespread application
  of EBFM

30
3. Achieving and measuring the F.I.S.H. Project
Result

• To increase marine fish stocks by 10 in four
  ecologically important target focal areas (over
  the 2004 baseline level) by year 2010

31
Trend of Philippine demersal biomass decline and
the Fish Project result

• j

32
FISH Project Results Framework
IR 1.1 Change in number of registered
fishers
IR 1.3 Effort Restrictions
PR 1 Catch rate of
selected fisheries in focal areas PR 2
Abundance of selected fisheries
resources in focal areas
IR 1.2 Change in enforcement units
10 increase in fish stocks in focal areas
PR 3 Reef
fish abundance within and adjacent to selected
MPAs in focal areas PR 4
Reef fish richness within and
adjacent to selected MPAs in focal areas PR 5
Benthic condition
within and adjacent to selected MPAs in focal
areas
IR 1.5 Adoption of CRM
IR 1.4 MPAs
IR 2.1 Management Framework, action agendas, and
policy instruments
IR 1.6 Collaborative Agreements and
Ecosystem-based Fisheries Management Plan
IR 3.1 3.2 Constituency building
IR 1.7 Population Program
33
Indicative Targets for Performance Indicators
(PR1 to PR3) to Achieve the Overall FISH Project
Result in Four Focal Areas
34
Fisheries and MPA baseline assessment/monitoring
Fishery independent methods (trawl, bottom set
longline,fish trap, bottom set gill net)
PR 1 Abundance of selected fishery resources in
focal areas
PR 2 Catch rates of selected fisheries in focal
areas
Fishery dependent methods (catch and effort
monitoring in preselected landing sites)
PR 3 Reef fish density and biomass inside and
adjacent to selected MPAS in the focal areas
MPA assessment methods (fish visual census, manta
tow, line intercept target)
35
Trawl survey in Danajon Bank (May 2004)
Planned and actual fishing stations used during
the trawl survey
71 jellyfishes, sea urchins and starfishes
Average catch 4.54 kg/30min of trawling 1.33
kg/30min (excluding jellyfishes sea urchins and
starfishes)
36
Dive stations for line intercept transect and
fish visual census
Example Lanuza Bay
37
Comparative status of 4 focal areas Baseline
survey results

• Fish stocks in all four areas are heavily
  exploited
• Calamianes has highest fish biomass
• Danajon has the lowest fish biomass
• Tawi-Tawi recorded the highest biodiversity
• Catch per operation was highest in Tawi-Tawi
  lowest in Danajon
• Calamianes and Tawi-Tawis fish catch had high
  economic value dominated by premium species like
  groupers, snappers and threadfins
• Danajon catch of low economic value all around
  71 were jellyfishes, sea urchins and starfishes
• Reef fish biomass recorded moderate in Danajon,
  then Calamianes, Tawi-Tawi and Lanuza Bay
• Mean species richness lowest in Danajon
• Living coral cover also lowest in Danajon

38
Estimation of FISH Project Result
FPR
Weighted average of APRs
Weighing factor area (in km2) of the selected
focal area
APR
Weighted average of PRs
Weighing factor area (in km2) of influence of
PRs in respective focal area incorporating
potential yield
Weighted average of the difference in measure of
abundance through test fishing in 2010 and 2004
PR1
Weighing factor number test fishing replicates
of selected sampling gear used in the focal area
PR2
Weighted average of the difference in catch rates
of selected fishing gears monitored in 2010 and
2004
Weighing factor number of landings of selected
fishing gears monitored in the focal area
Weighted average of the difference in reef fish
biomass in established MPAs in 2010 and 2004
Weighing factor area (in km2) of the selected
MPA in the focal area
PR3
39
Estimation of FISH Project Result
Example Danajon Bank
PR 3
hypothetical values
40
Estimation of FISH Project Result
Example Danajon Bank
PR 2
41
Comparison of CPUE Danajon Bank (2004 and 2006)
42
Initial Biophysical Results
43
4 things to remember about FISH

• Establishing fisheries management systems in the
  4 selected focal areas
• Effecting change in exploitation patterns
• Achieving biophysical results as measured by 10
  increase in fish stocks within life of the
  project
• Laying the groundwork for widespread application
  of EBFM

44
4. Laying the groundwork for widespread
application of EBFM
CRM Building blocks of EBFM
45
EBFM is

• fisheries governance encompassing relevant
  ecosystem boundaries
• in a manner that addresses the present and future
  needs of society
• by optimizing resource use benefits balanced with
  ecological integrity

46
Convergence of approaches . . .

• Ecosystem Management
• GOAL
• Conserving structure, diversity and function of
  ecosystems
• ACTIONS
• Focus on biophysical/ natural components

ECOSYSTEM-BASED FISHERIES MANAGEMENT
Fisheries Management GOAL Optimizing social/human
benefits for food and economic gains ACTIONS Focus
on rationalizing fishing activities and target
stocks lately, wider human/institutional
dimension
47
What is EBFM trying to sustain?
48
Why EBFM in Philippines?
49
Convergence of approaches . . .

• Ecosystem Management
• GOAL
• Conserving structure, diversity and function of
  ecosystems
• ACTIONS
• Focus on biophysical/ natural components

ECOSYSTEM-BASED FISHERIES MANAGEMENT
Fisheries Management GOAL Optimizing social/human
benefits for food and economic gains ACTIONS Focus
on rationalizing fishing activities and target
stocks lately, wider human/institutional
dimension
50
The FISH Story
Change in behavior
Change in exploitation pattern
51
What worked

• Adherence to socio-cultural, religious and
  political traditions e.g. Fatwa
• Building champions and inter-LGU management
  arrangements and strengthening the role of the
  province for EBFM
• Population Health and Environment integration
• CRM as the building block for EBFM
• Merging of scientific and local/stakeholder
  knowledge for informed decision-making
• Use of baseline information for management
  interventions
• MPA networking

52
Challenges

• Accessibility and affordability of science tools
  to local communities
• Sustaining and nurturing the links in multi-level
  and multi-stakeholders partnerships/alliances
• Replicability measures considering the peculiar
  requirements and conditions
• Readiness of service providers to adopt policy
  measures and processes

53
Setting the stage for replication and
sustainability
Sustain and replicate beyond target area
Sustaining activities in focal and target areas
Replication of activities from focal to target
54
DONT 4-GET THESE.

• Establishing fisheries management systems in the
  4 selected focal areas
• Effecting change in exploitation patterns
• Achieving biophysical results as measured by 10
  increase in fish stocks within life of the
  project
• Laying the groundwork for widespread application
  of EBFM

55
(No Transcript)
56
(No Transcript)
57
(No Transcript)
58
For more information

• 1. Rene Acosta
• FISH Project Cognizant Technical Officer/USAID
• racosta_at_usaid.gov
• 2. Gerry Silvestre
• FISH Project Chief of Party
• Silvestre_g_at_ttemi.com.ph